The use of petroleum revenue and matters arising

Infrastructure continues to be a key component of oil revenue expenditure, almost seven years of producing oil in commercial quantities.

Every year, part of the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) — which is channelled to support government projects—is earmarked for various infrastructure.

Some of these projects are captured annually in successive reports of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) - the committee with oversight responsibility over the prudent management of the country's petroleum revenues.

It is, however, disturbing to visit some projects that are said to have benefited from petroleum revenues, and yet there is nothing to show for it.

Last year, the PIAC led a team of financial journalists to tour the three Northern regions and some of the findings dazzled the team. Either the projects were missing or there was some shoddy work done. In one instance, although the project was said to have received funding in 2014, the team found out that the last time work was done on it was in 2006.

The clear misuse of the revenues was so evident during the tour of the projects, raising concerns over who monitors the projects that continue to receive funding every year.

The GRAPHIC BUSINESS is worried that a similar situation could be replicated in the various regions and no proper value for money audit is being conducted to assess the impact of the projects said to have benefited from oil.

The paper believes that it is not enough for the Ministry of Finance to allocate revenues every year without knowing the state of the projects.  

It is important for the government to acknowledge that it is one thing allocating revenues and another ensuring that the purpose for which the revenues are allocated is achieved.

This week, the PIAC is leading a team of journalists on a monitoring exercise in the Ashanti and Volta regions. While this is commendable, the GRAPHIC BUSINESS believes that PIACs efforts could be in vain if government fails to take action on some of the findings from the project sites.

The paper is, therefore, urging civil society organisations in the extractive sector and the media to mount pressure on government to take a look at oil-funded projects and step up its monitoring efforts.

The GRAPHIC BUSINESS is also urging the PIAC not to be silent on its findings from the project sites; rather it should share it with the other media who were not part of the visit.

The media in Ghana is vibrant when it comes to monitoring, accountability and transparency in the management of revenues generated from the sector. 

We believe the stories that are churned out from such project visits can spark public debate and put government in a position to account effectively for our oil resources.

Oil has transformed the economies of some countries and Ghana should be able to show a high level of infrastructure development after its petroleum resources have run out.